Improvement



UNITED STATES PATENT OrmeaC HERY H. ELI/VELL, OF SOUTH NORWALK,CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT EN LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,330, dated January13, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY H. ELWELL, of South Norwalk, in the county ofFairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Horizontal Locks and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspcciiioatiou, in which- Figure 1 is an internal view of my invention,the back plate of the case being removed. Fig. 2 is also an internalview of the same in a reversed or inverted position to that shown inFig. 1; Fig. 3, a detached view of the bolt and plate pertaining to thesame.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention consists in constructing the lock in such a manner thatit may be inverted and applied to either a right or a left hand door,and admit of the key being inserted into the lock in a properposition-that is to say, bit downward in either position of the lock.

The invention is designed to supersede the 7 Janus-faced locks,77so-called, which are provided withl two nished sides and a reversiblebolt, or a double-beveled one, and one comparatively expensive tomanufacture.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the case of a horizontal lock constructed in the usual way,and B is the latch-bolt, tted and arranged in the case in the ordinarymanner so as to be turned by a knob.

C represents the bolt of the lock, which is formed at one end of theplate D, the latter being much thinner than the bolt, but considerablywider, and having an opening, E, made in or through it, the shape orform of which is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This opening` E has onepart, a, much wider than the other part, b, the latter being solely toadmit of a projection or bearing, c, which is attached to the inner sideof the front plate of the case, passing through the plate D, and withoutinterfering with the movement of the bolt C and plate D. The part b ofthe opening E has parallel upper and lower edges, and the upper andlower edges of the part a of said opening are of curved form, as shownat d, and are the surfaces against which the bit of' the key acts inoperating the bolt. The upper and lower edges of the part a of theopening E are precisely similar in form, as will be seen by referring toFig. 3.

F is the key-hole, which is made in the front plate, e, of the lock.This key-hole is of such a form that it will admit the key in properposition, bit downward, in either position of the lockthat is to say,when the lock is so placed as to have its latch-bolt B uppermost, orwhen inverted so that the bolt C will be uppermost. This result isattained by having both ends of the key-hole made in circular form, asshown at af, to admit of the shank of the key passing through.

G represents the key, f the bit, and g the shank or arbor of the same.

H H represent two tumblers, which are of right-angular form, and :fittedat their angles on pivots or pins h h, one at each side of the plate D.The short arms t' i of the tumblers H H are connected in consequence ofthe end of one arm being provided with a lip or projection, j, whichfits in arecess, 7c, in the end of the opposite arm, as shown clearly inFigs. 1 and 2. The longer arms, l l, of the tumblers are pro vided eachwith a shoulder, m, near their ends, and have also a notch, n, made intheir inner edges just back of the shoulders, as shown in theabove-mentioned figures. The ends of the arms t' fi are also eachprovided with a short lip, o, and these lips are fitted in one end of aspiral spring, I, the opposite end of which bears against the projectionc, previously referred to. plate D, at each side of it, there is aprojection, p, against which the shoulders m m ofthe tumblers H H bearwhen the bolt C is within the case A, and said projections, when thebolt C is shoved outward, are within the notches u a of the tumblers.The spring I has a tendency to keep the tumblers H in contact with theprojections p p, and it will be seen that said projections and tumblersretain the bolt C in both its inward and outward position, and it willalso be seen that, in order to move the bolt C either in or out, thetumblers H must be forced outward free from the projections p p. Thisresult is attained by the bit f of the key G, which, as the key isturned, first acts against the tumblers H H, and throws them out freefrom the projections p p, and then acts On theinner end of the v againstone of the curved edges d of the part b of the opening, and throws thebolt out or' in, according to the direction in which the key is turned.In consequence of this arrangement of the plate D and tumblers H, inconnection With the keyhole F, it will be seen that the lock may beapplied to either a right or a left hand door, 'and the key G in eithercase inserted in the lock in a proper position, or bit downward-a resultnot attained by the ordinary locks when inverted 5 and as thelockrepresented is technically termed a horizontal one on account of' theknob and key-hole being,` in a horizontal line, the lock will have thesame appearance whether placed on a right or a left hand door.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecureby Letters Patent, is-

The plate D, with bolt C attached, and provided with the opening E, inconnection with the tumblers H H and key-hole F, arranged substantiallyas and for the'purpose herein set forth.

HENRY H. ELWELL.

Witnesses:

DUDLEY l?. ELY, 'WILLIAM T. GRAW.

